Isaac Hempstead Wright and Liam Cunningham on Why They Understand 'Game of Thrones' Backlash

The Emmy Awards on Sunday was a great opportunity to share more thoughts on Game of Thrones, as the actors and showrunners came together to celebrate one of the final award ceremonies they would attend as the GoT family.

On the red carpet specifically, the stars were asked about the final season of the HBO hit, along with their thoughts on all the backlash it faced.

Isaac Hempstead Wright, who played Bran Stark, said the cast and crew knew that fans would be upset over the show's conclusion. He dished to Us Weekly, “We were expecting there to be backlash...It’s so, so difficult to end something as divisive and as popular and as huge as Game of Thrones. The moment we got those scripts we knew … well, the moment we knew it was ending, we knew not everyone would be pleased.”

Liam Cunningham, who sounds as kind and compassionate as his character, Davos Seaworth, had similar thoughts. “You have to remember human nature and that people had a relationship with this show,” he told US Weekly. “It didn’t become a cultural phenomenon for no reason. When people are in love with something and you turn around and go, ‘We’re going now,’ they get upset and quite rightly.” 

Cunningham also shared that his reactions with fans post-Thrones has mostly been positive, but that the rare encounter has been negative. “Nine out of ten people come up and say. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’ We return with, ‘Thank you for watching us and thank you for allowing us into your homes.' And then you’ll get one who stamps their feet,” he stated.

Cunningham was sure to add, “They’re entitled. Everybody’s entitled to their opinion.”

Wright also jumped in with, “I think you’ve got to kind of look into the positives of that, which is the fact that people are so passionate about it. They’re so invested in it, they’re coming up and telling you why you ruined it or whatever.” 

We're happy to see the two stars are able to look past all the negativity.